Mrs Sheila Ferres MBE , a Deeside physiotherapist, has gifted to the University of Aberdeen a pair of scissors from the bureau of Sir James Paget (1814-1899), the discoverer of Paget’s disease of bone (1877) (also known as osteitis deformans), and a founder of the science of pathology.
The scissors were bequeathed to Mrs Ferres by the grandson of Sir James Paget in recognition of her dedication during his illness from stroke for the last seven years of his life. The brass-encased scissors have been a treasured possession of Mrs Ferres for the last twenty-eight years.
Last month, an international team of scientists led by bone specialist Professor Stuart Ralston, of the University of Aberdeen, geneticist Dr Anne Hughes at the Queens University of Belfast, and molecular biologist Dr Dirk Anderson, of Immunex in Seattle, identified the gene responsible for Familial Expansile Osteolysis - a severe form of Paget's disease of bone. It was this breakthrough that led to Mrs Ferres’ gift of the scissors.
Mrs Ferres said: “It was pure coincidence that I was at the University on the day of the Paget’s disease breakthrough. The University very kindly invited me to spend the day in the Orthopaedic department where I met Professor Ralston, who told me about the discovery that had happened that very day. I decided then that Aberdeen was the appropriate place for the scissors. I thought that the University should have a personal possession of Sir James Paget.”
The breakthrough, published in the January 2000 issue of Nature Genetics, is a major advance in understanding the cause of the enigmatic disease, which causes bone pain and bone deformity and which is sometimes so severe as to require amputation.
Mrs Ferres has been practising as a physiotherapist for the past 58 years, and for 37 years in the Deeside area. She has had a far-ranging medical career, having worked in the Naval Hospital during the war, in Rhodesia , and at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. Mrs. Ferres was made an MBE in June, 1999.
Mrs Ferres’ husband, the late Dr. Gordon Ferres (MB ChB 1928), was in 1993 the only known medical graduate of the University of Aberdeen to reach 100 years of age. He also led a fascinating life, managing a rubber plantation and enjoying big game hunting in Sumatra.
Note to Editors: Sir James Paget (1814-1899) is considered to be a founder of the science of pathology. He was a professor of anatomy and surgery from 1847-52, and was later vice president (1873-74) and president (1875) of the Royal College of Surgeons. He rendered excellent descriptions of breast cancer, an early indication of breast cancer known as Paget's disease (1874; an inflammatory cancerous condition around the nipple in elderly women), and Paget's disease of bone (1877; a bone inflammation also known as osteitis deformans). Also named for him is Paget's abscess, one recurring about the remains of a former abscess. He was one of the first to recommend surgical removal of bone-marrow tumours (myeloid sarcoma) instead of amputation of the limb.
A surgeon of international repute, he served as surgeon extraordinary (1858-67), sergeant surgeon extraordinary (1867-77), and sergeant surgeon (1877) to Queen Victoria. He was created a baronet in 1871. Among his works are Lectures on Tumours (1851), Lectures in Surgical Pathology (1863), and Clinical Lectures and Essays (1875).